1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus for arraying/conveying web-like works such as unvulcanized tread cut in an extruder line into segments of a predetermined length and, more particularly, to an arraying/conveying apparatus which forms, just before the web-like works are transferred to and arrayed on storage pallets, the array of the web-like work to be formed on the pallets in advance of the transfer.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a typical conventional apparatus of the kind described. This apparatus has a multi-belt conveyor A (or a multi-chain conveyor) and a feed roller conveyor B which has conveyor rollers arranged between adjacent belts or chains of the conveyor A and arranged orthogonally to the conveyor A, the feed roller conveyor B being adapted to feed web-like works W such as unvulcanized tread which have been cut into a predetermined length and conveyed from a tread extrusion line which is not shown. The feed roller conveyor B is designed to be moved above and below the surface of the multi-belt conveyor A by means of a lifting cylinder C. An arraying multi-belt conveyor D is disposed at the outlet end a of the multi-belt conveyor A such that the belts of the belt conveyor D partially laps the outlet end a or extend in parallel with the same. A shifting roller conveyor F is arranged orthogonally to the arraying multi-belt conveyor D such as to be moved above and below the surface of the arraying multi-belt conveyor D by the operation of a lifting cylinder E. A receiving conveyor H adapted to receive the web-like works W arrayed and transferred by the arraying multi-belt conveyor D is disposed at the outlet end d of the latter.
In operation, the feed roller conveyor B is lifted and stationed above the multi-belt conveyor A and conveys the web-like work W cut and delivered from the tread extrusion line to a predetermined position. The arrival of the web-like work W at the predetermined position is detected by a detecting means Xl such as a photocell which operates to stop the feed roller conveyor B. At the same time, the lifting cylinder C is operated to lower the feed roller conveyor B below the surface of the multi-belt conveyor A so that the web-like work W is transferred from the feed roller conveyor B onto the multi-belt conveyor A. Then, the multi-belt conveyor A is started and when the end (leading side edge as viewed in the direction of movement) is detected by a detecting means X2 such as a photocell, the arraying belt conveyor D is started so that the web-like work W is moved onto the arraying conveyor D. When the trailing end of the web-like work W, i.e., the side edge adjacent the feed roller conveyor B, has passed the detecting means X3, the arraying multi-belt conveyor D is stopped.
In the described manner, the feed roller conveyor B is lifted again by the lifting cylinder C to the level above the multi-belt conveyor A, such as to wait for the next web-like work W. Then, as explained before, the feed roller conveyor B is stopped when the web-like work W has reached a predetermined position on the feed roller conveyor B and is lowered to the level below the surface of the multi-belt conveyor A thus transferring the web-like work W onto the multi-belt conveyor A. Then, the multi-belt conveyor A is started and, when the leading end of the web-like work W is detected by the detecting means X2, the arraying multi-belt conveyor D is started, so that the new web-like work W is positioned on the arraying multi-belt conveyor D at a predetermined pitch or distance from the preceding material W. The arraying multi-belt conveyor D is stopped when the trailing end, i.e., the end adjacent the feed roller conveyor B, has passed the position of the detecting means X3. Thus, the web-like works W are arrayed on the arraying multi-belt conveyor D at a pitch which corresponds to the time interval between the detection by the detecting means X2 and the detection by the detecting means X3.
The operation described hereinabove is repeated until a predetermined number of web-like works W are arrayed on the arraying multi-belt conveyor D at a predetermined pitch.
Then, the lifting cylinder E is operated to raise the shifting roller conveyor F above the surface of the arraying multi-belt conveyor D so that the web-like works arrayed on the multi-belt conveyor D are transferred to the shifting roller conveyor F. Then, the shifting roller conveyor F and the receiving conveyor H are driven so that the web-like works W are moved to the receiving conveyor H arranged at the outlet end d of the arraying multi-belt conveyor D. The receiving conveyor H then transfers the array of web-like works W onto the storage pallets G.
This operation is made repeatedly so that successive arrays of the web-like work W are formed on the arraying multi-belt conveyor D and forwarded to the next step of process.
This known apparatus suffers from the following problems.
Namely, the transfer of the preceding web-like work W to the arraying multi-belt conveyor D has to be finished until the subsequent web-like work W reaches the inlet side of the feed roller conveyor B. In addition, the feed roller conveyor B has to be raised by this time. Therefore, the time length for the convey by the multi-belt conveyor A is limited so that the speed of this conveyor A has to be high. In consequence, the web-like work W tends to slip on the surface of the multi-belt conveyor A when the latter is started and stopped. In addition, it is quite difficult to eliminate or uniformalize the amounts of slip between respective belts and the associated pulleys in the multi-belt conveyor A. In consequence, it is often experienced that the web-like work W runs obliquely or turned during the convey.
In the case where the web-like work W is an unvulcanized tread or the like work, the oblique running or turning of the material tends to cause a mutual contact or lapping of successive materials W, resulting in adhesion thereof to make the materials W unusable. Hitherto, therefore, it has been necessary to preserve a large gap between successive treads taking into account the oblique running and turning. This in turn increases the pitch of array of the web-like works W so that the number of materials W carried by one storage pallet G is reduced undesirably.
In addition, since the web-like works W are often stored in the storage pallet G in the oblique or turned posture, the quality of the product is impaired disadvantageously.